The 39 / Thirty-Nine Steps

Back in the early days of home video, the idea of public domain movies was something new to me. The fact that certain films had lost their original copyrite and were now available to anyone with a print seemed almost impossible. I didn't think certain movies were old enough to have lost their copyrite. Movies like It's a Wonderful Life were not even fifty years old back in 1986, and yet there were dozens of cheap VHS versions on the market. Many of which were mastered from faded washed-out 16mm prints and often colorized. In 1993 Republic Pictures claimed copyrite to the film thanks to a Supreme Court ruling (Stewart v. Abend) which had to do with the film, Rear Window. NBC now licensed the film for holiday showings, the colorized versions have been withdrawn, and Republic now has exclusive rights to the film. Another classic film which for years had only been available in cheap VHS copies with hard-to-watch grainy washed out prints was Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 classic, The 39 Steps. Based on the 1915 novel by John Buchan, the film is now beautifully restored and released through the Criterion DVD Collection. Robert Donat stars as Richard Hanny who stumbles on a political assassination conspiracy and eventually becomes both the pursuer and the pursued. For years I would try to watch the film but could never get through it because of the almost unwatchable prints. When I viewed the Criterion disc a few years back I was astounded. It was like seeing a brand new film. Sharp vivid images and a high quality sound transfer made it enjoyable for the first time. Another version of the John Buchan story was filmed in 1978 starring Robert Powell as the Hanny character. That film, The Thirty-Nine Steps is actually a lot closer to the Buchan novel, although it's ending departs from the books conclusion. With a cast that also features John Mills and David Warner, this later film blends intrigue and black humor rather nicely. A delightful score by Ed Welch helps move things along and it's final scene is somewhat of a tribute to Hitchcock. Like the master of suspense did so often in his films, this movie places the final action in a world renowned location familiar to all. This 1978 British-made version only saw a VHS release in America, and is now out-of-print. A DVD release can be found in the UK. As for public domain films, they now have made the jump to DVD. Many titles can be found in the bins at local dollar stores. Most are B-picture quality but among them are often gems like D.O.A. and Night of the Living Dead.